Intermediaries are seeing an upsurge in confidence among their buy-to-let landlord clients according to the latest research by Paragon Mortgages.

The survey, carried out by the leading specialist buy-to-let mortgage provider, suggests that landlord demand has strengthened “significantly” over the past three months, with more than a third of respondents (34%) saying demand was strong, up from 30% in the previous quarter.

Intermediaries reported an increase in confidence in the mortgage markets, with 57% believing that the availability of buy-to-let finance had improved in the current quarter – a substantial increase from 47% on the previous quarter. Additionally, more than half (51%) believe that it will improve going forward, up from 46%.

The report also revealed that business is growing for intermediaries, with half of those questioned saying business levels were higher in Q1 than in Q4 2012. Intermediaries are also feeling confident of further improvement going forward, with 63% saying that they expect to do more buy-to-let business in the next 12 months, and 18% saying they expect to do in excess of 10% more business.